2020 U.S. Presidential elections

[Innula Zenovka]

I dunno. Queer theory tends to be pretty broad minded. Check the back catalog on pamphlets.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Zaida Gearbox]

I was in line behind two young ladies who were voting for the first time. They were too young to vote last time. They both said they were voting for Jorgenson - which made my heart glad. Though one said she was just doing it to spite her dad for insisting that she had to vote - LOL. Then, her dad sent her a text from the front of the line claiming there were Trumpers trying to force their way inside to "monitor" the vote. So, when our council woman came around to make sure people were in the right lines, I asked her about it, and she said it didn't happen. We had to get in line according to what ward we live in. I had no idea what ward I live in, but then I saw our council woman with a mask that said, "Straight Outta Ward 4." LOL! I tolld her I want that on a t-shirt.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Not sure where else to put this. Just a really moving Biden story. It will be nice to have empathy back.

We dearly, truly, desperately need a president like that in the White House right now.

 

[Free]

This Nail-Biter Election Is Not A Repudiation Of Trump

Progressives hoping that the nation would be cleansed of President Trump and the GOP that enabled him in a mandate...

talkingpointsmemo.com

 

[Sredni Eel]

I've cursed half of the United States with terminal searing hot explosive diarrhea with bullet ants and executioner wasps.

 

[Pancake]

I am glad that someone said this. It’s part of the conversation that didn’t get enough attention the last 4 years and I fear will be missed again regardless who wins. I avoided saying it here, I want to be gentle and sensitive to how you must all be feeling but several friends and I said it a few times last night and this morning watching the results in horror. The issue isn’t just the polls, nor was it Coney last time or even Trump so it won’t go away if he loses. A significant portion of Americans want more of the same, that is a problem that requires a different solution but I have no idea what that solution is. If the polls had been exact both times, there is still something fundamentally wrong.

I have the same problem in my province, a majority of people who can’t see the leopard eating their faces, so I eagerly watch how others try to solve it grasping for hope.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

This is a silly quibble, though.

Yes the larger problem is that pretty close to half of this country is made up of fascists and/or people who are okay with fascism, whether because they view human suffering (of others) as a form of entertainment and validation, or because they ultimately don't care. Pretty close to half the population, and not merely a third or a quarter as low voter turnout in previous races allowed us to pretend. A whole lot more people came out to vote early in this election than normal, and we celebrated that as a presumed win for liberals and progressives, but SURPRISE a whole of those people coming out to vote were fascists.

But, traditional polls over the last several election cycles have been consistently failing to notice or account for this, and that IS a problem, even if it's not "as big" a problem as the first thing.

 

[Beebo Brink]

The issue isn’t just the polls, nor was it Coney last time or even Trump so it won’t go away if he loses. A significant portion of Americans want more of the same, that is a problem that requires a different solution but I have no idea what that solution is.

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "solution".

The basic problem is that humans, as a species, are clever apes, with all the behavioral traits that come with this lineage. We have the capacity for altruism when convenient, but that trait is always fighting with self-interest, greed, and power-dynamics. We are intensely tribal, the only difference being that "tribe" for us now extends well beyond the few individuals in our immediate vicinity and now encompasses people we've never met, but who have adopted the same tribal markers.

Context is key to which of our constellation of traits emerges. We can be peaceful and cooperative when we're content, satiated, and unthreatened. Conversely, when society is destabilized and fearful individuals are triggered, we get downright nasty.

Capitalism is an especially pernicious system because it feeds our greed, which in turn inevitably leads to the destabilization we're seeing now as more and more individuals fall to the bottom of our economy and are triggered. Societies that have judiciously curbed capitalism are doing better than the U.S., but good luck rooting out capitalism from American soil; it's revered as much, if not more, than our bastard form of Christianity and White Supremacy.

My own doomsday perspective is that due to our current faulty governance system, we're badly positioned to cope with rapidly escalating climate change stresses that are building quietly in the background. When they hit the U.S. in full force, I think we'll buckle and fracture under the pressure.

 

[Free]

 

[Free]

But, traditional polls over the last several election cycles have been consistently failing to notice or account for this, and that IS a problem, even if it's not "as big" a problem as the first thing.

So you agree the real problem is that people voted for Trump in numbers that make the U.S. look pretty ugly right now.

Not sure how it's trivial, then.

 

[Sid]

What if both end up with 270 electoral college votes?

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Jolene Benoir]

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "solution".

The basic problem is that humans, as a species, are clever apes, with all the behavioral traits that come with this lineage. We have the capacity for altruism when convenient, but that trait is always fighting with self-interest, greed, and power-dynamics. We are intensely tribal, the only difference being that "tribe" for us now extends well beyond the few individuals in our immediate vicinity and now encompasses people we've never met, but who have adopted the same tribal markers.

Context is key to which of our constellation of traits emerges. We can be peaceful and cooperative when we're content, satiated, and unthreatened. Conversely, when society is destabilized and fearful individuals are triggered, we get downright nasty.

Capitalism is an especially pernicious system because it feeds our greed, which in turn inevitably leads to the destabilization we're seeing now as more and more individuals fall to the bottom of our economy and are triggered. Societies that have judiciously curbed capitalism are doing better than the U.S., but good luck rooting out capitalism from American soil; it's revered as much, if not more, than our bastard form of Christianity and White Supremacy.

My own doomsday perspective is that due to our current faulty governance system, we're badly positioned to cope with rapidly escalating climate change stresses that are building quietly in the background. When they hit the U.S. in full force, I think we'll buckle and fracture under the pressure.

For sure, the pandemic has exposed just how weak our system is equipped to handle anything at all. In addition to that, it has exposed the dirty, grimy underlayer that some lives just don't matter,. The servants/serfs do not matter, even as they serve the chosen ones. That is a result of our capitalistic system, well not even that, but our form of it in the sense of unchecked greed with no boundaries or restrictions. They have been whittling away at anything that restricts it for decades now. This is the eventual realization of that.

 

[Free]

What if both end up with 270 electoral college votes?

Pistols at 10 paces.

Electoral College Ties - 270toWin

How is the president elected if the electoral vote ends in a tie or no candidate reaches 270 electoral votes?

www.270towin.com

 

[Pancake]

Well if it makes you all feel better, my Premier is "bringing back coal" approving the opening of mines in two areas that were shut down decades ago for environmental reasons. The people voting for this can't stop buzzing about all the jobs it will bring

That's on top of gutting portions of the civil service, suggesting increased vetting of and requirements of those applying for income support, removing tuition tax credits while decreasing funding to post secondary, lifting the cap on insurance rates, and a thousand other things that depress me to list.

So when I say we need a solution, it's not a solution to Trump, it's a solution to whatever this thing is that is reverting society to the 1960s on almost every issue from social to environmental, and the gleeful intoxication people are displaying as they abandon not only science but just simple facts.

 

[bubblesort]

What if both end up with 270 electoral college votes?

There are surprisingly realistic scenarios where each candidate gets 269. If that happens, things get weird. It goes to the senate, where long story short, Trump gets a second term (although technically they can elect anybody they want). The VP is picked by the house in that scenario, so it is possible to get Trump as president, and Biden as VP.

 

[Essence Lumin]

There are surprisingly realistic scenarios where each candidate gets 269. If that happens, things get weird. It goes to the senate, where long story short, Trump gets a second term (although technically they can elect anybody they want). The VP is picked by the house in that scenario, so it is possible to get Trump as president, and Biden as VP.

Nope. The house decides the president with each state delegation getting one vote. The senate decides the vice president.

 

[bubblesort]

Nope. The house decides the president with each state delegation getting one vote. The senate decides the vice president.

Oh, right! Sorry, its been a while since I read about it.

So imagine president Biden with VP Trump. That would he crazy. Trump would be like a way less powerful shadow PM in the UK.

 

[Tracer]

umm... TMI